I’m not gonna pass judgement until I see the movie, but I’m expecting the worst from Disney based on this poster alone. Props to them for finally having an African American princess, but you know how Disney is. Characters are usually one-dimensional, good or bad, black or white. Which is why I’m glad Pixar pretty much runs Disney now, cause their characters usually have a heckofa lot more depth. So I’m hoping John Lasseter does a good job on his first Disney animated film…

Click to check out the trailer.

“Dreams Come True – Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio” opened on November 15th at the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) and I had the pleasure of attending it that afternoon.

The entrance to the New Orleans Museum of Art’s “Dreams Come True” features these banners, and in true Disney fashion, a red carpet welcome for all those attending.

Walt Disney once said, “The fairy tale of film — created with the magic of animation — is the modern equivalent of the great parables of the Middle Ages.” The Dreams Come True exhibit shows how Disney has taken those classic fairy tales, added to them, and created animated stories which entertain as well as touch our hearts. Disney’s John Lasseter wrote about the exhibition, “Never once do you think that the characters and places are just drawings and paintings. What’s even more amazing to contemplate is that for every background or animation cel that is photographed and seen in the final film, there are dozens of pieces of art the audience never sees that are vital to the creation of the film: visual development artwork, story sketches, character designs, layouts, animation drawings, paintings, and more.”

In this multimedia exhibition you’ll find these usually hidden elements from Disney’s film-making process: maquettes, production cells, backgrounds, pencil sketches, and other original artwork from over seventy-five years of legendary Disney animated films, along with film clips and some rare collectibles the films inspired.

This is my sticker from the Disney art exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art. Mickey Mouse shirt available for an additional charge, at Disneyland.

Start your tour with an eight-minute video presentation about the importance and tradition of storytelling in Disney films. The presentation screens continuously in the Stern Auditorium inside NOMA.

From there you enter a series of rooms, arranged chronologically by the year of each film’s release date, with each room highlighting how Disney combines storytelling, composition, creativity and artistic talents to bring these fairy tales to life. The original fairy tales are summarized so that you can see for yourself how Disney transformed them.

Beginning with Silly Symphony shorts and other Disney productions like Three Little Pigs and Mickey and the Beanstalk, you learn Disney’s secrets of production through all the steps in the animation process.

Walt Disney Studios
Conceptual art from Disney’s ‘Snow White,’ part of the exclusive Disney-themed ‘Dreams Come True’ exhibit coming to the New Orleans Museum of Art in November 2009.

As you travel room by room inside the exhibition, you’ll encounter fairy tale-based full-length Disney motion pictures like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and finally Disney’s latest animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. All throughout the exhibition, you’ll find original pencil sketches, early production artwork, character maquettes, and research material Disney artists were inspired by in creating their ideas.

You’ll discover some secrets along the way as well, if you pay attention. For example, in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Lucille LaVerne provided the voice of the evil queen but when that character was transformed into the hag-like witch, Lucille altered her voice in the recording studio by taking out her false teeth! I also was pleased to discover that the beautiful bejeweled storybook that was actually constructed for the opening sequence of Sleeping Beauty has its original red pencil layout drawings on display at the museum.

Walt Disney Studios
Sleeping Beauty, 1959 Marc Davis, 1913-2000 Maleficent and Diablo Visual development: gouache and maker on paper Walt Disney Animation Research Library Collection © Disney Enterprises, Inc. Part of Disney’s “Dreams Come True” exhibit at NOMA

Large HDTV screens show clips from the movies highlighted in each exhibit room. In that way you see the production process all the way from the original short fairy tale stories and legends, to how Disney animators expanded those tales to make the characters and their stories come to life, as shown on screen in the finished films.

Walt Disney Studios
Conceptual art from Disney’s New Orleans-set ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ part of the exclusive Disney-themed ‘Dreams Come True’ exhibit to the New Orleans Museum of Art.

The largest part of the exhibit features displays about Disney’s newest animated feature, The Princess and the Frog. You can compare photos of real-life New Orleans locales to the beautiful renditions of them that will appear in the movie. The local culture, food and music are very important in understanding New Orleans, and great care was taken to portray these realistically and yet entertainingly in The Princess and the Frog. An interactive display lets you hear many of the songs in the movie, including “Down in New Orleans,” “Almost There,” “Friends on the Other Side,” “When We’re Human,” “Gonna Take You There,” “Dig a Little Deeper,” and “Ma Belle Evangeline” performed by such musical greats as Dr. John, Terence Blanchard, and the Pinnacle Gospel Choir. The songs range from toe-tapping Dixieland jazz… to lively Cajun Zydeco… to church-shaking Gospel music… to down-home blues… to show-stopping productions featuring that distinctive New Orleans back beat rhythm. Disney even identifies which one is the “I Want” song, found in so many classic Disney feature animations.

While you aren’t brought directly into a gift shop at the end of the exhibition, the museum gift shop can be found nearby and it includes related Disney merchandise, from t-shirts and logo cups to the “Dreams Come True” book from Disney Editions. Although no photography of any kind is allowed inside the museum, this wonderful book includes pictures of many of the things on display in the exhibition, as well as long descriptions of them, along with a forward by John Lasseter.

The “Dreams Come True – Art of the Classic Fairy Tales from the Walt Disney Studio” is available inside the NOMA gift shop as well as online, while supplies last, from NOMA here.

Museum admission for Louisiana residents with valid photo I.D. is $8 for adults, $7.50 for Seniors (65 and up), $5 for children 3-17, and children under 3 are free. NOMA members are also admitted for free, but the optional Audio Tour device costs members $3 while it is included in the cost of admission to non-members. Consult NOMA via their noma.org website for other information, including group tour discounts. Free parking is available.

I recommend you experience this once-in-a-lifetime exhibition, which cannot be seen anywhere else in North America, at the New Orleans Museum of Art during its delightful run from now through March 15, 2010. The excellence of Dreams Come True is due to it being organized by the Walt Disney Animation Research Library and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

What do you think about this? Please leave a comment!

Voto: 9 (su 10) 

Up. Su, nel cielo. Vola ancora alto, altissimo, la magica Pixar. La nuova Disney, lo studio che ormai è l’anima della Disney, scarta il suo ultimo regalo, il suo decimo gioiello. E ci si abbandona allo stupore, allo spettacolo, come bambini.

E non c’è critica che tenga. Stavolta quelli della Pixar ci raccontano la storia di un uomo anziano, Carl, che è rimasto vedovo, e sogna di raggiungere il Sud America per vedere quelle cascate che avrebbe tanto voluto visitare con la moglie quando questa era in vita. Mentre i palazzinari stanno costruendo dei grattacieli intorno alla sua casetta, e vorrebbero tanto disfarsene, Carl decide di spiccare il volo.

Letteralmente: grazie a migliaia di palloncini solleva la sua casetta, e veleggia verso Sud. Solo che con lui c’è un ospite non previsto. Il boy scout Russell, che pensa a Carl come alla sua prossima buona azione…

Up. Alza ancora il tiro, la Pixar. Perché stavolta, in un film al solito delicato e indicato per i più piccoli, parla addirittura della morte. Dopo che, con Wall-E, aveva parlato di ecologia e della morte del nostro pianeta. Fa addirittura morire un personaggio,

Ellie, la moglie di Carl, nel commovente prologo, che è un piccolo film nel film.

Non  ha paura di fare discorsi seri, la Pixar. Il cui segreto, ancor più dell’inconfutabile aspetto tecnico-visivo, sta nella fantasia con cui creano le loro storie: lo ripetono sempre i suoi artisti, da John Lasseter a Andrew Stanton, a Pete Docter, regista di Up.

Le loro storie sono originali sia quando raccontano mondi mai visti (Monsters & Co), che quando si rifanno all’immaginario di generi come i supereroi (Gli incredibili) o la fantascienza (Wall-E).

Up si rifà a un cinema ben preciso, quel cinema d’avventura degli anni Trenta e Quaranta, anni in cui non ancora tutti gli angoli del mondo erano noti, e si poteva fantasticare sulla natura selvaggia e su creature fantastiche e mai viste, e credere alla loro esistenza. Un po’ quello che accadeva con l’isola di King Kong. Up si rifà a questo genere di pellicola, liberando una seconda parte sfrenata, dopo una prima parte chiusa e controllata.

Ma anche rileggendo un genere riesce a creare qualcosa di originale, che stupisce a ogni inquadratura. Con alcune idee geniali, come lo stratagemma creato per far parlare i cani in modo che siano capiti dagli umani.

In Up non mancano i riferimenti alla storia del cinema, come le fattezze di Carl, ispirate ad attori storici come Spencer Tracy e Walter Matthau (in fondo, l’incontro tra Carl e Russell dà vita a un buddy movie, genere in cui Matthau eccelleva).

E il sogno di Carl, il suo andare da solo, o quasi, contro tutti, ha qualcosa del Don Chisciotte di Cervantes.

Ma la Pixar, come abbiamo capito da tempo, riesce a inserire tutto in un racconto fluido e naturale, senza appesantirlo, come si usa oggi nell’animazione, con tutte quelle citazioni forzate che altro non sono se ammiccamenti a un pubblico adulto.

Non ne hanno bisogno, alla Pixar. Così come non hanno bisogno di oggetti che escono dallo schermo fino ad arrivarci sul naso per farci apprezzare un film in 3D.

Come tutto quello che fanno, anche la loro via al cinema 3D è sobria, semplice, funzionale alla storia. È solo un’altra matita in più.

È un mezzo espressivo e non un fine. Forse solo un gradino sotto il capolavoro Wall-E, Up è un film maturo e intenso, adatto a tutti (non manca un messaggio sulla famiglia e sul valore del tempo) e commovente.

Un’opera che ci parla di morte in modo così delicato da farci amare terribilmente la vita.

Da vedere perché: Pixar. Basta la parola.

(Pubblicato su Effettonotte on line)

Una de las cosas que se te (pueden) quedan(r) en la cabeza después de ver Toy Story (que gracias a Dios no se tituló Una Historia de Juguetes aquí en México), aquella película animada de Pixar del ‘95, pionera de la animación por computadora y mundialmente aclamada, es posiblemente la canción clásica del filmecito que lleva el honor de titular a este post.

He de admitir que por mucho que me guste Pixar, jamás he mencionado a ninguna de las dos aventuras de Buzz y Woody como favoritas [léase: Top 3] dentro del pequeño pero grandioso repertorio de los estudios. Pa’ quien no lo sepa, son diez exactamente los filmes que lo comprenden, de los cuales he visto 8 (sniff….sniff…). 22 nominaciones al Oscar han juntado hasta ahora, y van invictos, en el sentido que ninguna es mala. Los filmes de Pixar son casi un evento cada año o tanto. Cuando uno escucha hablar sobre uno de sus próximos proyectos, uno sabe de antemano que valdrá la pena y hay un 99.99% de probabilidades de que te guste y lo disfrutes una vez estrenado. Son las ganadoras por default cada año a Mejor Largometraje Animado en los Academy Awards. Ésas son las cintas de Pixar; historias fantásticas que cuentan una verdad o que dirigen un mensaje honesto al espectador. Son películas para todo tipo de gente, porque desde un niño, hasta un adolescente, adulto y personas de la tercera edad, para todos ellos va dirigido el filme. Cualquiera los puede disfrutar. Pixar pues, es lo que vino a suplir al Disney de los ’90s, cuando éste se hallaba en un periodo de esplendor verdadero, conocido como el Renacimiento Disney,comúnmente conformado también por 10 películas: The Little Mermaid (1989), The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Beauty & the Beast (1991) su joya maestra, Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994) mi favorita, Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Mulan (1998) la menos lograda, y Tarzan (1999) la última emblemática. Este año claro, esperan regresar a esos grandes tiempos con The Princess & the Frog (2009), cinta de animación tradicional que cuenta en su protagónico con la primer princesa negra (no, no soy racista), o de color pues, en el club femenino Disney. Yo no lo consideraría así, puesto que Esmeralda y Pocahontas, ambas fuertes protagonistas de sus respectivas películas, ya eran de color. Aquí el trailer para que vean, pero yo me reservo el decir que vaya a ser tan buena como las de antes. No es por nada, pero ese Disney ya pasó. Aún así la veré.

Pero bueno ya me desvié del tema. Estábamos con lo grandioso que ha llegado a ser Pixar, y bajo ese término presento mi top 3:

WALL-E (2008). Una de las mejores películas del año pasado y la que considero la obra maestra de Pixar, y hasta eso es difícil decidir. No sólo el personaje es encantador, sino la historia y la animación (como siempre) resultan una DE-LI-CIA.

The Incredibles (2004). Una de esas películas que puedes ver en familia por excelencia. Lo mejor es que la he visto por lo menos una docena de veces y aún me encanta. Por cierto, Jack Jack rockea.

Finding Nemo (2003). No faltaba, ¿verdad? Simplemente imposible de odiar; cualquier persona te la pone entre sus favoritas, tan sólo por lo geniales que son TODOS los personajes, en especial Dory. ¿Cómo alguien la puede olvidar?

Pero bueno, ahora sí, la razón de este post. Lectoras y lectores, como ustedes ya deben saber, Toy Story 3 ya se acerca y viene calentando motores desde hace diez años. Y para calmar las ansias un rato, Pixar nos ha deleitado con uno… dos trailers y un puñado de posters promocionales. No necesito darles otra vez la premisa, porque el trailer habla por sí solo. Aquí va pues:

Nostalgia y emoción mezcladas a la vez. Emoción por ver la película, para mí. Noten cómo las gráficas y el CGI ha mejorado. Visualmente se ve también genial, y aún mejor al verla en 3D, como es debido.El hype ya está muy alto de nuevo, pero Pixar sabe manejarlo y seguramente entregará una de las mejores terceras partes de todos los tiempos. Las dos primeras tienen 100% en Rotten Tomatoes, por lo que la línea también está muy bien establecida.

No sé ustedes, pero de verdad creo que vale la pena ir a ver el relanzamiento en cines de Toy Story en 3D y Toy Story 2 en 3D, el 23 y 30 de octubre respectivamente. Como buen espectador, hay que prepararnos, y como fiel seguidor de Pixar, yo ya vi la primera, y debo admitir que fue genial verla de nuevo, y más aún cuando jamás la había visto en pantalla grande (y mucho menos en 3D).  Como si no lo supieran ya, Toy Story 3 se estrena en cines y pantallas 3D el 18 de junio de 2010.

No es tan fácil olvidarlos, ¿verdad Andy?

Toy Story, 1995, John Lasseter

Estas dos semanas en cartelera disfrutaremos de dos clásicos de la animación navegando por el novedoso terreno del 3D, Toy Story (1995, Lasseter) y  Toy Story 2 (1999, Lasseter). Este hecho es porque en mayo de 2010 disfrutaremos de la tercera parte de esta saga en formato 3D. Resulta muy agradable para todos los que disfrutamos de estas películas, pues marcan el inicio de una de las casas productoras más importantes actualmente, Pixar.

En el 2007 se hizo un documental llamado “The Pixar Story” el cual te explica los orígenes de la gran corporación de animación que es la empresa Pixar, creadores de los ya mencionados “Toy Story”, “Monsters, Inc.” (2001, Docter, Silverman, Unkrich), “Cars (2006, Lasseter)”, “The Incredibles” y de otros muchos éxitos del cine de animación americano de los últimos años. Este documental nos introduce en cómo se llevó a cabo el proceso creativo de Toy Story y después del encumbre de los trabajos posteriores.  Pixar es hoy en día un indiscutible líder del panorama mundial de la animación por computadora, y sus películas las que más recaudan del género. El documental presenta testimonios de las principales personalidades del sector, directivos de la compañía y actores que trabajaron en sus proyectos. En México, este documental se incluye en la edición en DVD de 2 discos de la película WALL·E, así como en la edición Blu-Ray de la misma película. A mediados de 1980, un trío de creativos: John Lasseter, Ed. Catmull y Steve Jobs, combinado sus habilidades en el arte, la ciencia y la empresa pusieron en marcha un nuevo enfoque en las películas de animación 3D que cambió el concepto de cine para siempre.

Woody y Buzz

El éxito de Toy Story estuve en armar una historia llamativa para los niños y para todo público, pues tocan temas universales como la amistad y la envidia. No sólo se creó una película técnicamente casi perfecta, sino dotada de un guión extraordinariamente ágil y vivo y creando unos personajes tan naturales y cércanos lo que hace que el público sienta una identificación. Se mezcla un sentido del humor que no para de hacernos reír con una acción imparable y, desde luego, con mensajes que nos enseñan valores como la amistad, el compañerismo, no juzgar a la ligera y no dejarse llevar por las simples apariencias. Toda persona se ha preguntado, ¿Cuántas veces, cuando de niños jugábamos con nuestros juguetes, nos imaginábamos que cobraban vida? De hecho, esos juguetes que era tan especial para nosotros, que ocupaban un lugar predominante en nuestro corazón (hasta que uno nuevo lo desplazaba) realmente parecía estar vivo. Yo creo que esta película realiza ese sueño. ¿Quién no ha tenido su juguete favorito y lo convirtió en su mejor amigo?

Toy Story 2

Sin embargo aquí viene lo feo, y es que Pixar aún no está hecho para trasladarse al 3D, le falta mucho ingenio aún para utilizar una herramienta tan poderosa. Disfrutando esta película en el cine sentí ese dejo de que Toy Story nunca estuvo hecha para ser vista en 3D. Lo mismo pasó con Up(2009, Docter), que aunque estuvo bien construida y realizada, visualmente se quedó limitada ante lo que su competidora “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” (2009, Saldañha, Thurmeier) ofrecía. Pero vaya no se desanimen, que Toy Story es un clásico dentro de la animación y aún vale por mucho la pena adentrarnos en estas fantasías pues a muchos nos trae a vivir de nuevo los mejores recuerdos de nuestra infancia.

Podéis “bucear” en mi blog para encontrar algunas referencias al estreno 3D de esta semana: Toy Story.
Recordad, ¡es la primera! y sale con 72 copias en España, casi la mitad de las salas 3D que hay hoy en día funcionando (156 + 2 IMAX 3D digital + 2 IMAX 3D analógico).
http://3dcinema.wordpress.com/tag/toy-story/

TOY STORY 3D (estreno  23 de octubre)

Género: Comedia-Animación-Aventura
Producción: EEUU
Director: John Lasseter
Intérpretes: Tom Hanks y Tim Allen

Sinopsis:  Son juguetes, hablan- al menos cuando no hay nadie alrededor- y han vuelto… para celebrar el regreso de la saga Toy Story -¡esta vez en Disney Digital 3D!-. Toy Story, la película con la que empezó todo, lleva a los espectadores de nuevo a esta fantástica aventura, vista desde los ojos de dos juguetes rivales: Woody (con la voz de Tom hanks en la versión original), el desgarbado y amoroso cowboy, y Buzz Lightyear (voz de Tim Allen) el valiente hombre del espacio. Este improbable dúo aprende a dejar a un lado sus diferencias cuando las circunstancias les separan de sus dueño Andy y se encuentran con que el único modo de sobrevivir a la peligrosa misión es aliándose. Más información.

Antes de desaparecer unos días, y lamentando las últimas semanas de ajetreo, traemos a la Isla una cosita rica que salió hace unos días: el esperado primer trailer de Toy Story 3 (o “cambiemos al soso de Andy por una salvaje manada de…”).

Es Toy Story, es Pixar, y todo comentario sobre la calidad visual es innecesario, aunque queda ver si Unkrich consigue dirigir como antes lo hizo Lasseter, que se limitará a supervisar el film. La historia en si parece divertida (el guión es de Michael Arndt, Oscar por la tierna y predecible Pequeña Miss Sunshine), y el leitmotiv del argumento (Buzz se estropea y sus amigos tratarán de arreglarlo) nos certifica el poderoso peso que ya supone en EEUU la audiencia hispana. Gloria eterna a Buzz Lightyear, guardián estelar!

El estreno americano, el 18 de Junio.

> Web oficial

Well, it certainly has been a long time hasn’t it. Through a combination of university re-starts, hectic schedules and computer theft I haven’t posted on here in a good long while, sad to say. Hopefully now that things have settled a mite, we can return to business, and I can think of little better way than with a review of one of the year’s most hotly-anticipated and best pictures, Disney-Pixar’s Up.

After the huge successes of Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Ratatouille et al, the pressure was undoubtedly on new Disney chief John Lasseter (former Pixar head and director of Toy Story amongst others) to keep the ball rolling with another quality movie. And he has done so, with one of the best-plotted and certainly emotionally complex Pixar film yet.

Centred around loveable curmudgeon Carl Fredricksen, Up is a firstly a film about dreamers. After meeting wife Ellie in the opening few minutes as the two unite over their love of adventure, we see a wordless 5-minute montage of their married life together from wedding day to Ellie’s passing. It is without question the most powerful footage Pixar has yet captured, and if you’re not welling up you may very well have no soul.

Unfortunately, the film can’t live up to its unbelievable opening, but all the same it’s a brilliant movie and a magical cinematic experience in a climate preoccupied with big-money CGI and $200 million budgets. Carl decides to adventure off to the mythical Paradise Falls by tying balloons to his house and flying away on the day he was due to be taken to a care home. Plucky young boy scout Russell has unwittingly been dragged along, however, as he was trying to earn his ‘Help the Elderly’ merit badge.

The old git-energetic youth pairing has been done before, but instead of using the leads to make ill-judged social commentary about generational gaps, the script makes Russell and Carl very similar people, with a love of adventure and a good head on their shoulders. They provide laughs and entertainment but also the emotional centre which has anchored Pixar films since their  genesis.

Paradise Falls itself is wonderfully realised (as you’d expect), and the panning shots of the jungle and cliffs are beautifully handled. The discovery of rare tropical bird Kevin leads to some nice slapstick moments, but it’s adorable dog Dug who is more likely to win over audiences. Given a talking collar by his master (whose name I won’t reveal for spoiler purposes), he is the most easily distracted character in the world, anxious to please his new master Carl while occasionally thinking he’s seen a squirrel.

Winning foursome (l-r) Kevin, Russell, Dug and Carl.

The central quartet of Carl, Russell, Dug and Kevin are brilliant during their shared screentime and the comedy comes thick and fast during the middle 45 minutes. Unfortunately as the film begins its action plot it takes a dive, providing the weakest villain in a Pixar film thus far. However, it is easy to forgive this shortcoming since the emotional plot is so brilliantly handled. Carl’s reading of Ellie’s ‘Adventure Book’ is sure to prompt a few tears, and his absolute devotion to his late wife is the most poignant piece of characterisation Pixar has thus far created.

Up is a fantastic movie, packed full of excitement, emotion and ebullience, and paced brilliantly. Had it continued the quality of its first 5 minutes we’d be talking about the film of the decade, but it is a little let down by a weak villain in the second and third acts. Still, it stands up very well against Pixar’s other works and whilst it’s no Toy Story, it’s still a great picture and one of the best films that will come out this year.

9/10: Pixar has managed to make one of its best films whilst handling the child-unfriendly subjects of loneliness, old age and death, and its a testament to the place that Up is a delight. A superbly created lead character, some great gags both slapstick and satire and some magical visual moments, this shows just how far ahead Pixar is of every other animation house. Lovely stuff.

For more than 150 years, the Atlantic has told the stories of people who commit acts of moral and intellectual bravery by espousing unpopular or controversial positions. In a special issue of the magazine, the editors have chosen 27 leaders—from business and politics to science and media—who embody this great tradition today. These are people who are risking careers, reputations, and fortunes to advance ideas that upend an established order.

Illustration by Quickhoney

One of our favorite picks: Steve Jobs and John Lasseter, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studio.

Why they’re brave: “They haven’t let commercial success stifle their innovation or storytelling.”

Thorkil Sonne
CEO and Founder of Specialisterne

Ben Bernanke
Chairman of the Federal Reserve

Morgan Tsvangirai
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe

Camille Parmesan
Professor, University of Texas at Austin

Shai Agassi
Founder of Better Place

Steve Jobs and John Lasseter
Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer, Pixar Animation Studios

Montgomery McFate
Senior Social Scientist at the Human Terrain System

Freeman Dyson
Professor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Iftikhar Chaudhry
Chief Justice of Pakistan

John Fetterman
Mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania

Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
Publisher of the New York Times

Craig Watkins
Dallas District Attorney

Henry Greely
Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Bio-Sciences

Walter E. Hussman Jr.
Publisher of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Ralph Nader
Perennial Third-Party Presidential Candidate

Sheila C. Bair
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation

Paul Polak
Founder of International Development Enterprises and D-Rev

Trey Parker and Matt Stone
South Park Creators

Barack Obama
President of the United States

Mark Zuckerberg
Founder and CEO of Facebook

Danny Day
Founder and President of Eprida

Jim Webb
Senator from Virginia

Jeff Zucker
President and CEO of NBC Universal

Meredith Whitney
Founder and CEO of Meredith Whitney Advisory Group LLC

Alex de Waal
Program Director at the Social Science Research Council

See Atlantic editors discussing the concept of the Brave Thinkers package, and watch videos featuring four of their most fascinating honorees.

La tercera entrega de la saga de los juguetes que tanto queremos, al fin les llega el día en que Andy ha crecido y es hora de ver qué nuevas aventuras les depara el destino…además, veremos qué pasa si reseteas a Buzz jeje. Disfruten

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10

di Pete Docter

Un vecchio e un bambino alla scoperta del mondo su una casa viaggiante.

Se non ritornerete come bambini, non lo capirete mai. Potrebbe essere questo il sottotitolo perfetto per l’ultima meravigliosa creatura dei quei geni della Pixar. Perché dire film è forse troppo poco e capolavoro è ormai un termine abusato dopo aver assistito a quei capolavori recentissimi che sono stati Ratatouille e Wall-E. E proprio come Wall-E finiva, Up riparte: uno sguardo innanzitutto, sul cielo e anche oltre. Il piccolo robot che spazzava e sperava in un mondo di solitudine. Il piccolo vecchietto che vendeva palloncini, indurito dai dolori della vita e soprattutto dal dolore di lei che non c’è più. In una casa vuota, scura, circondata  da scavi mostruosi di una città in fieri, vive il vecchio Carl, prigioniero di quella casa dei ricordi dove tutto è immagine di lei, aggrappato a un album di foto sbiadite e con lo sguardo rivolto a un cielo che tanto aveva promesso negli anni scorsi e che invece tanto poco sembra ora offrire. Ma l’imprevisto, come sempre nei film Pixar, è pronto a tendere la sua nuova divertita imboscata. E’ con una nota malinconica e forse anche più, che prende le mosse il film di Pete Docter, già regista dello splendido Monsters &Co, e qui capace di superarsi. In una manciata di minuti che già sono entrati nella storia del cinema, il regista e il suo montatore raccontano i tanti anni della  vita di Carl: lo stupore di questo bimbetto taciturno al cinema a vedere le avventure del suo eroe, l’amicizia con Ellie, la bambina sdentata che poi diventerà sua moglie. Le promesse del matrimonio e anche tutte le lacrime, fino alla vecchiaia e alla morte di lei. Il tutto raccontato alla maniera del cinema muto con solo commento musicale, senza dialoghi, con una straordinaria capacità sintetica e un’intelligenza rara nel raccontare la vita senza censurare nulla. Sogni, speranze, dolori, morte perché forse il punto di forza della Pixar è proprio quello di raccontare la realtà tutta con un occhio al pubblico bambino e un altro al pubblico adulto. Perché la vita è bella e tutto in essa ha significato, veramente tutto. Morte, rappresenta con grande realismo e delicatezza, compresa. 5 minuti di grande cinema come forse si vedeva solo nel cinema muto, senza un’ombra di sentimentalismo ma d’altra parte pieno di fiducia se non di speranza. Insieme si può affrontare tutto: sono sempre stati insieme Carl ed Ellie e si sono voluti un bene nell’anima, anche quando le cose andavano storte e il loro agognato viaggio in Sud America andava a farsi benedire: perché si spaccava la macchina, ci si rompeva la gamba o ci si ritrovava il tetto sconquassato. Sempre insieme, con lo sguardo nel cielo a riconoscere nelle nuvole le forme più strane. Gli animali più esotici, un elefantino, un bimbetto, tanti bimbetti. Un cielo pieno di bimbi. Sempre insieme, anche di fronte a tutti questi bimbetti che dal cielo non se ne volevano scendere in quel lettino blu allestito con tanto amore.

Ecco, Up, che da noi uscirà il 15 ottobre, è forse il film che più di ogni altro celebra la trasformazione del sogno americano in attesa, attesa di qualcuno. Un’attesa – a volte piena di stupore, a volte un po’più imbronciata – che la realtà ripaga sempre, pur attraverso modi misteriosi. Come la figura del piccolo Russell, un bimbetto esploratore affamato di vita, che il vecchio Carl si ritroverà tra i piedi e con cui inizierà un viaggio incredibile, sospeso letteralmente tra cielo e terra, poetico già nella forma, ricco di una simbologia semplice e senza fronzoli (la casa-museo di Ellie sospesa nell’aria e irresistibilmente attratta dal Cielo), fino a uno dei finali più commoventi della storia del cinema, un lungo abbraccio in cui tutto il dolore è riscattato.

Strepitoso da un punto di vista tecnico, Up, almeno fino al prossimo film Pixar, è l’ultima frontiera delle possibilità cinematografiche: è un film modernissimo eppure antico e controcorrente. E’ un film con delle avventure che nemmeno Indiana Jones ma il protagonista è un vecchio che fa fatica a muoversi; è un film che fa piangere e ridere al tempo stesso senza mai essere ricattatorio (e fa davvero piangere tutti: compreso il critico scafatissimo per le migliaia di film all’anno eppure singhiozzante per larghi tratti); è un film per bambini in cui gli animali sono veri animali che fanno anche un po’ paura e in cui non manca il sangue e la morte; soprattutto è un film in cui parole come ottimismo, sogno, solidarietà sono trasfigurate nell’unica parola di cui il cinema, con i suoi addetti ai lavori e tutto il suo pubblico, tramortito da centinaia di film zozzi, ha davvero bisogno. La parola speranza.

]]> http://coltonwill.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/a-glowing-review-of-the-magical-toy-story-3d-double-feature/ Wed, 07 Oct 2009 00:47:15 +0000 coltonwill http://coltonwill.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/a-glowing-review-of-the-magical-toy-story-3d-double-feature/

This is my second straight blog regarding Pixar.  Won’t happen again, but it was necessary due to the short time that the Toy Story/Toy Story 2 Double Feature is out.  Let us begin.

In anticipation of next year’s Toy Story 3, Disney has rereleased Pixar’s two defining films as a double feature in newly rendered 3D.  The appeal of this, besides the fact that they are the two best reviewed movies of all-time, is that they are the films that my generation grew up on.  Similar to Citizen Kane or 2001: A Space Odyssey, these films significantly altered the future of cinema.  In this case, the Toy Story series sparked the CGI era that produced such masterpieces as Finding Nemo, as well as duds like Fly Me to the Moon.

The idea to rerelease these films is, in itself, brilliant.  Firstly, 2 movies for the price of one sounds great for parents in this economy.  More importantly, however, is that it gives our generation a chance to reminisce about our childhood.  Many students grew up on Toy Story, but haven’t seen them in the theater setting in a decade or so.  I, being a newborn at the time, never actually saw the first film in the theater, but, like most, the VHS  was very often used.

Perhaps this is why both films got a standing ovation at their conclusion.  It brought everyone back, remembering what it was like to be a kid again, to be free of the troubles that the world presents to us as we get older.  Even the exclusive trailer for Toy Story 3, showing a college bound Andy evoked a round of applause from the audience, both young and old, as it perhaps struck pretty close to home with the timing of its release.

A curious thing about this 3 1/2 hour event is that everybody was completely enveloped in the films.  Despite the long running time, 5 year olds didn’t lose their attention, and businessmen and teenagers alike didn’t text.  In an almost surreal few hours, two movies managed to bring everyone in the theater together to think back to a simpler time.  In this sense, the films offered a solace, for however short of a time, from the challenges modern society presents.

From a technical aspect, the films were completed rerendered (calculated in a computer) using modern technology, in 3D.  This is appreciated due to the somewhat aged animation of the films, especially the first, and the fact that we can experience the same awe that was experienced upon watching the first computer generated movie.  Seeing the films on the big screen also augment the emotional punch of the film, as well as increasing the ability to spot the details that show how meticulous the production was (ie. the “Improvised Interrogation Handbook” in Sid’s room).

So, in conclusion, I think that you could guess that I strongly urge all of you to see it, and to toss any feelings that you’re “too cool” to go to a “kid’s movie”. You aren’t fooling anybody.  I’m Colton Williamson, and my gym teacher invented cup stacking.  Please tell your friends.

5 out of 5

Mit Pixars “Oben” hat man mich durchaus davon überzeugen können, dass es ein Kinoerlebnis sein kann, einen Film in 3D zu gucken. “Final Destination 4″ wiederum hat mir gezeigt das man auch mit 3D einen schlechten Film nicht aufwerten kann. Wie dem auch sei: Mit dem Erfolg von “Oben” scheint Pixar jetzt sein Zugpferd ebenfalls in die 3D Welten schicken zu wollen. In den USA bekommt man seit dem 2.Oktober ein 3D Double Feature von “Toy Story” und “Toy Story 2″ zu sehen und das nur für 2 Wochen! In Deutschland startet dieses Double Feature in 3D erst am 27.Mai 2010. Man darf gespannt sein ob auch hierzulande die Beschränkung von 2 Wochen gemacht werden wird – wobei man davon ausgehen darf, da wir wohl kaum dem US Publikum vorgezogen werden.

Das schöne an der ganzen Geschichte ist, dass man seitens Pixar zwar nicht die Filme mit neuen Szenen ausgestattet hat, aber aus Werbegründen natürlich ein zusätzliches kleines Filmchen produziert wurde, in denen wir all die lustigen Spielzeugchen aus der “Toy Story” Welt noch einmal ausserhalb ihrer Filmwelt sehen dürfen.

“Toy Story” kam erstmals 1995 in die Kinos, vier Jahre später – 1999 – folgte dann mit “Toy Story 2″ die Fortsetzung. Der dritte Teil starte in Deutschland am 23.September 2010. Vorher bekommen wir aber die Werke von Trickfilmregisseur John Lasseter “Toy Story” und “Toy Story 2″ in 3D ab dem 27.Mai 2010 zu sehen.

Toy Story & Toy Story 2 | John Lasster, 1995 & 1999

In 1995, a movie was released by a little known studio called Pixar that would forever change cinema, the animation medium in particular. This movie was simply called Toy Story. It would immediately become a classic among film historians and the general audiences, and earned 3 Oscar nominations, including best original screenplay. Four years later, a sequel that was originally set to be released direct to video was released in theaters, with even more acclaim and went on to become the only animated movie to win a Golden Globe award for Best Picture.

Toy Story is about the jealousy that forms between two toys, Woody (voiced by Tom Hanks), who has always been his owner’s favorite toy, and Buzz (voiced by Tim Allen), the brand new toy with cool gadgets that believes he is the real thing. Toy Story 2 deals with the theme of the possibility of abandonment by their owner as he grows older and having the chance to be admired forever behind a glass case. These synopsis do not cover half of what each movie is about.

What more can I say about these movies that has not been said already? They are wonderfully written, feature great voice performances from the entire cast, and they are entertaining. Although animation is getting better and better each year, these movies are aging gracefully thanks to their timeless story telling and wonderful characters that every person will be able to relate to. To this day, they are better than anything Dreamworks animation and other studios have released, that is no small feat.

Although both movies were huge parts of my childhood, I had never seen them in theaters. Because of this, I decided to see them in their 3D re-release. I had a great time reliving two of the most influential movies of my childhood. It was also nice to see a new generation of moviegoers discover them.

Podéis “bucear” en mi blog de cine3D.com para encontrar algunas referencias al estreno 3D de esta semana: Toy Story.
Recordad: ¡es la primera Toy Story! y sale con 72 copias en España, casi la mitad de las salas 3D que hay hoy en día funcionando (156 + 2 IMAX 3D digital + 2 IMAX 3D analógico).
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